West Wind Aviation began weekday scheduled flight service to La Ronge on Monday.
The new flight connects the northern community to Wollaston Lake, Points North Landing, Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
Company president Gord Gillespie says after an unsuccessful attempt to make La Ronge a West Wind destination in the past, they’ve decided to try again with an 18-seat, high performance twin turbo prop airliner.
“You know, West Wind has been serving the north for a number of years – except La Ronge,” he says. “Unfortunately, we had tried in years previously and the service didn’t work. We’ve changed the aircraft and the model since then and certainly are excited to be stopping in La Ronge and picking up passengers here and carrying on our service to Points North and Wollaston.”
La Ronge Mayor Thomas Sierzycki says this move sends the right message about the La Ronge area.
“When companies are investing – for example as flights coming in daily – it shows that your community is a ‘have’ community and not perhaps a community that’s in a downward slide,” he says. “And I know that we have certain things that we need to continue to work on, but this is a positive step going forward.”
West Wind has been providing workforce transportation flights for Cameco and AREVA out of La Ronge for years.